'Outlaw Poet': Documentary shares how Ohio County native found his writing voice

Mar. 7—Author, poet, educator and activist Ron Whitehead never thought that his life would end becoming what it has when growing up on a farm outside Centertown in Ohio County.

"I thought I was something of a juvenile delinquent," Whitehead said, "so I was shocked years later when I was named to the Ohio County High School Hall of Fame representing my 1968 graduating class."

Following graduation, Whitehead went off to the University of Louisville and Oxford University before making his way out to Arizona due to his love for the American Southwest.

Whitehead didn't leave home with much feeling of joy, but was able to find some purpose and self-discovery on this new venture.

"I had a lot of anger in me about so many things ...," he said, "but then in Arizona, I started having ... some lucid dreams and I started remembering the positive things that occurred to me ... in my childhood and my growing up years, and I started writing the stories down and then this awareness came and I found my voice as a writer.

"It wasn't an overnight process, but I came to recall the gift and the blessing it truly was growing up the way I was raised ...."

Whitehead eventually started finding friends and people "of a creative spirit."

"I had so many friends growing up, and I've been a seeker all my life and I didn't find those creative rebels like myself until I left home," he said. "I was on the lookout for them by the time I left home, and I had been since then and ... I've been blessed to establish a global community of friends who are creative artists and who live and create outside the box and don't follow the status quo ....

"Everything changed dramatically for me when I made the determination that, come hell or high water, to build a bridge from where I was to where I wanted to be. My dream became fully visualized and imaged in my mind. ... I knew what I wanted to do."

Since then, Whitehead has made his mark in a number of different ways.

He has been the recipient of numerous state, national and international awards and prizes including The All Kentucky Poetry Prize, The Yeats Club of Oxford's Prize for Poetry and more.

He was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature by Dr. John Rocco, professor at State University of New York (SUNY) Maritime College, in 2006 and was appointed to serve as Kentucky's Beat Poet Laureate for the years 2019-2021 by the National Beat Poetry Foundation.

As an editor and publisher, Whitehead has done works for people such as President Jimmy Carter, Hunter S. Thompson, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Bono, Allen Ginsberg, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and many more and has produced over 2,000 historic arts events, festivals, and 24-48-72 and 90-hour non-stop music and poetry Insomniacathons, throughout the United States and Europe.

He's even dove into teaching college students, but through more nontraditional means.

"I wanted to teach college in a genuine way; not a by-the-book way," he said. "I wanted to help students find their own voices as people and as writers."

And now his journey is on display in the documentary "Outlaw Poet: The Legend of Ron Whitehead," which details Whitehead's life and the people he's met along and collaborated with along the way such as Thompson, Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Diane di Prima, the Dalai Lama and Owensboro native Johnny Depp.

Initially set to play at film festivals in 2020 before the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the hour and 44-minute film was created by filmmakers Nick Storm and Clayton L. Luce who condensed over hundreds of hours of footage over the course of 10 years.

"Nick said he's got enough material to make another film or two to go with this one," Whitehead said.

While the film dives into celebrating his career growth and collaborations, it also hones in on Whitehead's personal struggles.

Even when the idea for the film came about, Whitehead said he was at a "real low point."

"I've been through a couple of divorces, broken relationships and my dad passed away which pulled the emotional rug out from under me unexpectedly," he said. "For the first time, I was at a place where I was overwhelmed by grief and I couldn't get a handle on it."

The film also sees Whitehead's journey with sobriety, where he said during that time he was "drinking too much" while taking medication and trying to navigate through the grief.

The move to show that side of Whitehead was intentional.

"I told Nick (that) I don't want this to be just a bunch of people praising Ron Whitehead," he said. "I want this to show the pain, and the struggle, and the strife and the turmoil as well."

Eventually, Whitehead was able to achieve sobriety thanks to his wife, fellow artist Jinn Bug, and some words from his doctor.

"My doctor said, 'Ron, if you don't quit drinking — your liver's shot — you will die by the end of the year," he said, "and Jinn said after we came back from a trip to Iceland ... and (she) finally got to a point where she said, 'Look, this is far as I can go.'

" ... There's nothing against the other women I've been with, but I wanted our relationship to work and I wanted to live."

Whitehead said watching the journey on screen can be painful for him at times, but that it all serves a purpose to those who watch.

"It's a film about redemption and it is a true Kentucky folktale; and this country is based (on) folktales," he said. "I hope (people) take two things away from it: the hope — there's not enough hope in the world — and I hope that they take away the inspiration to become their own original creative voice no matter what field of endeavor they work in (or) going in.

"If they don't have a dream already (that) they find a dream, build a bridge from where they are to where they want to be and live that dream because ... every day is a holiday since I started living and being my dream .... There's nothing like it."

"Outlaw Poet: The Legend of Ron Whitehead" will be screened at the 10th and final GonzoFest Louisville, a literary and music festival honoring Thompson, which begins Friday, July 14. It is also available for streaming on Amazon Prime.

For more information, visit outlawpoetmovie.com or gonzofestlouisville.com.